McNeese hosts internationally known flutist

The McNeese State University W.A. and Dorothy Hanna Performing Arts Department will present a program featuring internationally known flutist, teacher, jazz and film musician Jim Walker on Monday, April 15. This program – open free to the public – will include a master class from 9 a.m.-noon and a recital at 7 p.m., both in Tritico Theatre.

A native of Greenville, Kentucky, Walker is a graduate of the University of Louisville School of Music and he went on to play in the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point.

He was associate flutist for the Pittsburgh Symphony and the principal flutist for Los Angeles Philharmonic for several years and is the founder of the jazz quartet, Free Flight, which has appeared on The Tonight Show and at the Hollywood Bowl and the Lincoln Center.

As a studio flutist for over 20 years, Walker can be heard on over 600 sound tracks for jazz/pop sessions, television and motion pictures. He has also collaborated with such composers and musicians as John Williams, Paul McCartney, Wayne Shorter, Leonard Bernstein, James Galway and the LA Guitar Quartet.

Currently, he serves as a professor of practice, winds and percussion and coordinator of flute studies at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and as a professor of flute and chamber music at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, both in Los Angeles.  

For more information, call the department at 475-5028.

Persons needing accommodations as provided by the Americans with Disabilities Act should contact the ADA Coordinator at 337-475-5428, voice; 337-475-5960, fax; 337-562-4227, TDD/TTY, hearing impaired; or by email at cdo@mcneese.edu.